Local stories, guides & community reads

Shangri La, the Stark Museum and the Stark House all cost nothing, and Orange runs on a Tuesday-to-Saturday clock. Eleven things to do, with every hour and price checked against the venue itself.

Free professional headshots from Emerie Photography, food from Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen, and a room full of people building things. Thursday, August 20, 2026, 6 to 8 PM at The Forge, 268 Pearl Street in downtown Beaumont.

Spindletop, 450 alligators, a 900-acre marsh boardwalk and six attractions that cost nothing, with every hour and admission price re-checked against the venue's own site this month.

Eleven things across Beaumont, Orange, Bridge City and Port Arthur: a free butterfly release on a downtown lawn, Texas tax-free weekend, balloons lit after dark, and what's open Sunday.

Southeast Texas has no shortage of things to do on the weekend. What it doesn't have is a reliable list of what's actually open, so we checked all 25, one at a time.

Twelve things to do across Beaumont, Orange, Vidor, Nederland and Lumberton: the Australian Bee Gees at the Jefferson, a free E.T. under the stars, and which Orange gardens are closed Sunday.

Sea Rim State Park's 15,000 acres, the Museum of the Gulf Coast, Cajun seafood at Rodair and Reel Cajun, Sabine Lake fishing, and the spring-migration birding trails at Sabine Woods.